The Guardian

[Lord AvaLon]

Timeline of Sri Lanka's conflict with Tamil Tigers

1975: The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam group forms, demanding a separate state for minority ethnic Tamils in the island's north and east.

1983: Civil war begins.

1991: A Tamil Tiger suicide bomber assassinates the Indian prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, apparently in revenge for sending Indian peacekeeping troops who ended up fighting the rebels.

1993: Another Tamil Tiger suicide bomber kills Sri Lanka's president, Ranasinghe Premadasa, after his government's failed peace efforts.

February 2002: The Sri Lankan government signs a ceasefire with the Tamil Tigers.

June 2005: Relations between the government and rebels deteriorate over sharing international tsunami aid.

August 2005: Assassination of the foreign minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar, an ethnic Tamil who opposed a separate state for the minority. Tigers are blamed.

December 2005: Rebels launch their first major attack since the 2002 truce, killing a dozen Sri Lankan navy sailors. A series of attacks follow.

22 February 2006: Government and rebel officials meet in Switzerland for peace talks and agree to reduce violence. A second round of talks scheduled for a few months later is postponed as the two sides argue over transport and security.

8 June 2006: Collapse of talks in Norway aimed at restoring peace.

20 July 2006: The Tamil Tigers close the sluice gates of an eastern reservoir, cutting water to more than 60,000 people and prompting the government to launch its first major offensive on Tiger territory since the 2002 ceasefire.

2 November 2007: A government air raid kills the Tamil Tigers' political boss, SP Thamilselvan, who was believed to be the group's second-in-command.

2 January 2008: The government says the Tamil Tigers must disarm before any future peace talks.

16 January 2008: Sri Lanka's ceasefire is officially terminated.

29 August 2008: Sri Lanka urges civilians living in rebel-held areas to flee to government-controlled territory.

2 January 2009: The military says Sri Lankan forces have entered the guerrillas' de facto capital, Kilinochchi, predicting it will fall within hours.

5 February 2009: Sri Lanka snubs the international community's call for a ceasefire, saying troops will not suspend their offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels.

10 February 2009: The Red Cross evacuates 240 sick and wounded people by boat from the north-east war zone as the military accuses rebel fighters of killing 19 civilians fleeing the area.

13 February 2009: Sri Lanka accuses Britain of meddling in its internal affairs after Gordon Brown appoints the former defence secretary Des Browne as a special envoy to the country

20 February 2009: Two Tamil Tiger aircraft launch a surprise bomb raid on Colombo, hitting a tax building and injuring at least 27 people. Sri Lankan jets shoot down one aircraft as it retreats

23 February 2009: Tamil Tiger rebels tell the UN and the international community they are willing to accept a ceasefire but reject calls to lay down arms and surrender. The Sri Lankan government rejects the offer.

19 May 2009: The Sri Lankan government formally declared an end to the 25-year civil war after the army took control of the entire island and killed the leader of the Tamil Tigers.

[Lord AvaLon]

Brown stands firm as Falconer joins doubters

Gordon Brown today insisted he would not walk away from office as he faced mounting pressure ahead of tonight's European election results, with a former cabinet colleague calling for him to be replaced.

Addressing a meeting of hand-picked supporters in Stratford, east London, the prime minister said it was a "tricky time for the whole country" and the public would not thank him or his ministers for giving up.

"What would they think of us if ever we walked away from them at a time of need? We are sticking with them," he said, flanked by the Labour deputy leader, Harriet Harman, and the business secretary, Peter Mandelson.

Attempting to laugh off his woes, Brown apologised that his wife, Sarah, couldn't be at the meeting and joked that she had not resigned. He acknowledged public anger about MPs' expenses and the state of the economy, saying: "We are going to get on with the job of building a better Britain."

Lord Falconer, the former lord chancellor and a close friend of Tony Blair, today said it was time for Labour to consider a change at the top. "We need unity above all. Can we get unity under the current leadership? I am not sure that we can," he told BBC1's Politics Show.

He said if the prime minister did not stand down there were potential candidates waiting in the wings who could be prepared to mount a leadership bid.

"I think we are moving moderately quickly towards the need for a change and that change may be a change in leadership," Falconer said. "In the light of what's been happening, somebody – and I think there'll be more than one – can decide whether or not they would wish to seek the 70 signatures that would be required to challenge a leader."

The cabinet officer minister, Tessa Jowell, was forced to issue a statement backing Brown after she appeared to say the prime minister would be prepared to stand down should senior colleagues tell him to go.

"If Gordon Brown were to reach a conclusion that he personally was an obstacle to Labour's recovery and achievement, then of course like Tony Blair did ... in the very bad days when Tony Blair was prime minister, that is precisely what Tony Blair said," she said on BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend.

In a statement released after the interview, Jowell said this did not mean she thought the PM should quit. "Gordon Brown should not stand down. He should get on with the job and we should all unite behind him," she said.

While Friday's reshuffle succeeded in temporarily easing the intense pressure on Brown, the momentum appeared to be again building against him amid speculation that Labour could be beaten into a humiliating fourth place behind the UK Independence Party (Ukip) in the European parliamentary elections. If the result is that bad, Labour rebels are expected to publish a list of names of those who would support a new leader.

Mandelson today dismissed as "tittle-tattle" news of a leaked email he sent 18 months ago describing the prime minister as "insecure" and "self-conscious". Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr show, Mandelson did not deny the contents of the email but said it had been "completely misrepresented".

"It was not hostile to, or about, the prime minister... The prime minister is a politician not a pop star. He concentrates on getting the policies right, not on being a showman," he said.

Mandelson, who was in effect made deputy prime minister in the reshuffle when he was given the additional title of first secretary of state, suggested government policies needed a change of direction. "We have perhaps not been radical enough," he said. He called for renewed public service reform and confirmed the government would press on with the controversial part-privatisation of Royal Mail.

Alan Johnson, the new home secretary, who is widely regarded as Brown's most likely successor, continued to express loyalty for the prime minister. "I don't agree that regicide gives you a unified party. I think that Gordon Brown is the best man for the job," he told the Politics Show.